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Heat Looking to Bounce Back


The Heat are looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat against the Wolbes last week-end with a trip to the Essex Pirates who will be looking to get their first win over thier Southern rivals and Play-off hopefuls, Guildford Heat, when the two teams meet at Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre on Saturday. The Heat have come through better off in both encounters between the clubs this season, triumphing 94-76, and 104-88, both at Guildford Spectrum. However, three of the Pirates' five wins so far in their inaugural BBL season have been at home, and they have recently added former Leicester Riders and London Capital guard, Marcus Knight, to their line up.

Heat player-coach Chad McKnight will be going up against his former Heat team mates, Dean Williams and Alan Metcalfe on Saturday, and he is confident that the Heat can replicate the previous two results against the Pirates in this game: ' I think we match up pretty well with the pirates, we have beaten them twice already this season and we are looking to do the same again this weekend.' He said: 'I was disappointed in the team's performance last weekend we didn't have a good game at all. But I just put it down a bad night out. It happens, so we will learn from it and move on. I think that with the recent pick up of Marcus Knight that will add some scoring to the Pirates, so we have to keep an eye on that. Dean Williams brings good defense to the table every night, and Alan Metcalfe is a big body to deal with inside.' In their last meeting on New Years Day, McKnight was the player who did the most damage, as he led all scorers to start a second half of the season which has lifted his average to 16 points per game. He had 31 points to his name, whilst Mike Martin added 20 points and Julius Joseph had 15. For the Pirates, late- season addition Randy George dominated with 29 points, Tanner Adu had 21 points and Colin Sing added 12.

Incidentally, both teams have players capable of putting up big numbers, as Mike Martin and Julius Joseph currently put up 17.4 points per game to put themselves up there with the league's best, Lekan Popoola has been sharp from behind the arc this season on his return to injury, currently knocking down 50% of his long range shots, and 'LA' Aaron Drakeford ranks fifth in the league at the moment in the assists category, with an average of 5.1 per outing. For the Pirates though, Marcus Knight has shown his ability since returning to the BBL, as he ranks sixth in the league in blocks and fourth in steals at present.